Found Redemption
by Baratheas
Summary: "We won't be out that late, Jou, we promise," Yuugi said with a smile and looked around. "Right guys?" Collective agreement sounded. : One night. Who knew it would end up like this? : Polarshipping. Multi-ship. AU-ish. M for language & sexual content.
1. The Grand Scheme of Things

This first chapter practically wrote itself and I decided to clip it down and make it short/prologue-esque.

Things you should know : Yes it's an AU though characters will be kept close to how you already know them. The setting is still Japan, Domino City. I use UK English for spelling.

And without further ado, enjoy.

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**. : Found Redemption : .**

1 : The Grand Scheme of Things

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"Guys." A raked quickly through blond strands and fell. Just when he thought he'd run out of excuses, suddenly there was one he should've used from the start: "I gotta work tomorrow. Just started a couple weeks ago an' I can't be late."

There would be a little old lady bitching if he was, a finger pointed in his face and greyed hair dying for a brush, as usual... Tardiness meant no job. No job, no rent money.

"Perfect!" A lightly tanned face was grinning at him from the opposite end of the couch. "You'll get kicked outta this shithole and then you can move in with me."

"Honda..." he trailed, frowned, picked at stray thread sticking out of the grey leather under his arm. "Fuck, guys. I need this job."

Real glamorous washing dishes at some second-rate sushi house but the bills had to get paid. Great as it would be to live with one of his friends, he wouldn't enjoy feeling like a freeloader while he looked for a new job.

Hopefully a **better **one though, if it came to it.

"And?" A feminine voice sang the word as she perched on the arm of a nearby chair. "It's Friday and I wanna dance."

As if to make the desire more obvious, she moved. Lifting her arms a little, they moved in tandem with her shoulders, and her dark hair touched from cheek to cheek as her head nodded to the silent samba.

Beside her, vocal chords chimed with a pleasant laugh, one that had deepened over the years, "You always want to dance, Anzu."

"It's a gift, gotta use it," she supplied at length, laying her hands in her lap when the silent song seemed to end, "You're not so bad yourself, Yuugi."

The young man seated in the chair laughed again and his face tinged with colour close to one of the few shades in his multi-hued mane. Deflecting the subject from himself, he leaned forward in the chair, elbows on knees clad in black, "You should go with us, Jou," he said. "I've been there a couple times and the music's always good. Plus you'll be with us, it'll be fun."

"Of course it's been fun for _you_." Honda interjected, the line of his mouth tilting into a sly grin as he looked from one friend to another. "Dude, you should see it. Now that he doesn't look like jailbait anymore –"

"Hey!" A protest sounded from former supposed jailbait himself. But he was ignored as Honda went right on grinning and rushing like he couldn't get the secrets out fast enough,

"No man, seriously. Yuugi was like the fucking _king _when he was there last time."

"Shut up, Honda," Anzu intercepted and raised a dismissive wave at him. "You're just saying stuff based on what I told you. You weren't even there." After something like a huff, she went on, "Anyways, it'll be fun. Like Yuugi said, the music is always good."

All eyes were on him once more. His chest swelled with a breath that soon left in a sigh. The sound of someone considering giving up.

Anzu made a single clap with her hands and left then clasped together near her face. "Come on, Jounouchi."

"Yeah, think of all the cute girls that'll be there!" Honda leaned and gave his friend a hardy clap on the shoulder.

"Cute girls?" An indignant chirp sounded from another young woman sitting with her back against the couch. Turning, she sent a look upward, pursed lips and all.

Honda forced a laugh and reached to pat atop the wisteria strands of her hair, "Miho, babe, for him not me."

The moment lapsed into silence as it had finally reached that point, where there was a single thought to the obstacle no one dared mention. Everyone knew. The reason he turned down invitations like these.

Fridays. Saturdays. Sundays even. It never mattered.

"You have to get back out there," Anzu said quietly, a glossy-lipped, little smile as encouraging as the rest all around him.

They were only looking out for him.

_They want me to be happy. That's all._

It was his fault for having gotten involved with someone that the rest of his friends barely even knew. Need for human contact had gotten the better of his sensibility that day, he kept telling himself.

"A'right, no more about this girl stuff," he complained, trying to keep from grinning in spite of himself. "But a night out sounds okay."

All around the room, cheers went up.

"We won't be out that late, Jou, we promise," Yuugi said with a smile and looked around. "Right guys?"

Collective agreement sounded.

"I need to redo my makeup," Anzu declared needlessly and Miho quickly agreed, scrambling and joining the other girl at the door. "Meet back here in a hour."

The door was tugged open with a jerk and a figure passed through. The other delayed only long enough to offer a little suggestion, "You guys should think about changing."

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**. : **End 1** : .**

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Oh it definitely isn't over yet, review & stay tuned for the rest of the story!


	2. Thicker than Water

And now for introducing some familiar faces...

Enjoy.

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**. : Found Redemption : .**

2 : Thicker than Water

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Downtown.

Anything that happened here was added to the list of stories forever retold. That should have been the first clue.

At night, Domino was neon and excitement.

Arm in arm, the young women led the way down the block. It was kinda weird to think either of the two even _had_ curves but it wasn't hard to see, two outlines ahead, one in yellow and the other emerald.

Taps of high heels mixed with the chatter about last time everyone had gone out...

"Last time we didn't have Jou with us though!" Anzu glanced over her shoulder and exclaimed by way of encouragement.

"Just bound to be a hundred times better with you along this time," Honda agreed and gripped his friend's covered shoulder.

A leather jacket. Nice and broken in. That was the good thing about borrowing something.

"Really, Jounouchi, it'll be fun," Yuugi cast a sidelong glance up at him with eyes rimmed in more black than usual.

He felt out of place already. Mentally. He and his friends were dressed up like they were taking no prisoners. That was, well, different. This was the same group one, a few years ago, would've expected to be in on a Friday night, playing card games and arguing over where to order food from. As far as he'd known, it was still like that but...

Hell, the _sound_ of all of them walking didn't even sound normal. There was the click of heels from the girls ahead and the thicker clacks from the guys. Boots. The latter had involved insistence to ditch the sneakers for once...

"_We'll be like the Three Musketeers. Come on, Jou!"_

Jesus that was lame but he'd agreed to it anyway.

He rolled his shoulders and pressed his hands into his pockets.

Yuugi saw the gesture for what it was, "Don't worry, you look fine."

"Still feels weird," Jounouchi admitted at length. "I mean, are we goin' out or tryin' out for a tv drama?"

To be dressed like this felt more than just weird but there wasn't much he could do about it now.

Things were changing.

"Once you get inside you won't be worried about what you're wearing," Yuugi had added, looking like he was fighting off a smile,"Trust me."

A brow arched without Jounouchi realizing. "What's that supposed 'ta mean?"

But an answer never came.

"Here we are!" Miho declared and pointed needlessly.

Here was the very end of a row of modern yet unkempt buildings.

This was far from the crowded pathways of the inner city and all the tourist trappings thus it was quiet. Mostly. Music seemed to confirm what the place was, faint beats vibrating on the air here.

It was a plain face otherwise. Just doors. And above them, a radically bright blue illuminated characters in the dark :

"Replay," a voice pronounced the name and detailed, "Cause after you leave, all you want to do come back and play some more."

The voice came from a bike at the curb, one at the end of an entire line of them. Astride the vehicle was a figure, lights of the street throwing him into colour instantly. Different tones and textures in gold.

Rather than rise, he kept seated, the dark machine remaining upright under him with a practised plant of his boots, one on the blacktop, one on the curb. Silently, he gestured with an upward nod and Yuugi, of all people, was the one to return it without hesitation before stepping up closer.

"So the King returns," the stranger said while a wolfish grin rose to his lips. "Not enough play last time?"

Jounouchi could scarcely believe his ears. Whatever Honda was alluding to earlier must be true... Something had gone down and he'd missed it. Shit.

"Why do I miss the good stuff?" he complained.

But not a detail was given as the supposed King himself only laughed and waved him over.

In stepping up, Jounouchi saw more clearly. The young man wasn't from here, that was for sure. Tanned arms were folded loosely across his chest and he eyed with a pale gaze rounded curiously. If it was eyeliner, tattoos, or both he couldn't tell.

"Name's Jounouchi," he said.

"Marik," the other identified with a persisting grin and leaned over the handlebars of his bike as he extended a hand in an uncommon way of introduction.

Jou shook the offered hand.

"I own the place," he swept a hand through the pale gold lengths of his hair and lingered, fiddling with a gold earring.

What kind of place it was had him guessing as he looked at Marik. The young man's choices for the night had been jeans, a shirt, and a jacket, the same as he'd chosen actually. Nothing out of the ordinary on Marik except his jacket was flecked with what looked like gold leaf...

Overdecorated or not, the guy was cool, he thought. What was better than having your own club?

"Probably keeps ya' pretty busy."

"It does," Marik nodded. "There's help though."

"He runs the place along with his sister," Yuugi offered.

Marik's grin faded somewhat.

"It's us plus her _friend_, or pet, or whatever the hell she's calling him these days..."

The specifics on the subject appeared to have sobered the moment. Marik shifted and parked his bike before swinging off of it altogether.

"Feel free to head on in, I'm playing gatekeeper tonight," he stepped over to the doors and pulled one open, letting music out. "You guys enjoy."

Throwing a smile over his shoulder, Yuugi led the way in.

Everything was chipped edges and cold surfaces. Stone and shaped metals. The slanted ceiling soared overhead, dark in the rafters. And from it, red and yellow streamed, columns of light twisting incessantly, at times breaking up the thin fog hanging low in the air and at other times briefly illuminating the few thick metal beams that supported the structure.

The beams were sculptures and not ones in the traditional sense. They were like found art. And which kind of metal object together. Welded. Grafted in. Assembled all together in modern renditions of a few figures, anthropomorphised animals, each poised as if ready to strike.

Across the dance floor stood a stage. Instruments were clustered atop it, ready if needed. But at the time, a lone artist occupied the stage, spinning records from behind his booth, dark features blank with concentration.

Anzu hadn't been able to keep still any longer and, with a wave to everyone else, headed further in to do exactly what she'd been talking about all day. Dance.

But that wasn't the only reason to come here, was it..?

Bodies everywhere in pairs or trios even, with slivers of flesh on display and languid movements betraying deviant motivations.

Warmth saturated the air and notes trembled, driving beats pounded against his chest.

There was something raw and unfamiliar and compelling about it all.

Maybe that was why his friends kept coming back to this place.

Distanced from the dance floor and aside, a cluster of red lanterns hung from the ceiling over the bar then crowded around by bodies, so many that there were a few bartenders working.

Despite the busyness, one broke away and eased to the far end, tossing a towel across one shoulder and ushering a loitering group of girls away.

Yuugi led the way up to the bar, he and the remaining company filling the newly emptied space.

As if on cue, the music cut to a lower thrum affording that the bartender didn't have to be too loud as she called over the music.

"Welcome back, Your Majesty," she greeted him in a smooth voice, lips quirking into a knowing little smile as she leaned on the other side of the bar.

Around him, laughter sounded when Yuugi, startled for no reason he cared to explain, failed to answer.

Miho pulled up onto a barstool, engaging the other young woman in chatter.

The bartender spoke with slow articulation like she wasn't from Japan. This was only confirmed by her appearance, impossibly long hair looped by a gold diadem, the dark strands spilling over one bare, caramel shoulder.

Another owner, he realised. And like the first he'd spied, there wasn't much professional about the way she dressed, with hints of gold everywhere. Bands of the element around her neck, wrists, waist even. And she was wrapped in ivory, lace swirling down to dip along her chest. In smoky frames, her gaze was a gem-like blue, he noticed when it came to rest on him.

She waved him closer and he was brushing shoulders with Miho after complying.

"Drinks are on the house, so you are aware. Jounouchi, is it?" she asked and took her time looking him over, continuing before he could respond, "Valentine is going to eat you up."

He mouthed, capacity for words suddenly gone.

Wasn't every day a pretty woman paid him a compliment, indirect or not. She pulled the towel off her shoulder and, saying nothing more, eyed him with a curious twinkle in her gaze.

There was nothing he could think to say.

Who was Valentine anyway..?

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**. : **End 2** : .**

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And now we have the Ishtars on the scene. Only more guests to come, stay tuned.


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